It was an interesting story, but there didn't seem to be a conclusion. It is a description of what the family went through. There aren't answers to what really happened. Mountaineering is a selfish endeavor, and this book confirms that.

With an unexpected death, we all have questions that we would like to have answers to. Karen was the same. She shares her grief with transparency, as she looks to God for the answers.If you are asking the same questions about where God is in your grief and loss; then you will want to read how Karen found the answers to her questions (step-by-step) along the road of healing.

I look for the relationship angle in any book I read. This was an inspirational read. A book with take home value.Kelly was Karen's prince charming, and he lead her to God by the sheer strength of his own faith. Karen wanted what Kelly had. He had mended her broken dreams, and she wanted to live the rest of her life with him.I read the book and learned how much goes into planning a mountain climb. I gained a little more insite on how climbing can get into a man's blood. Sort of like my own husbands love of flying a small plane. It becomes part of who the man is and a wise woman knows this. The thing that helped Kelly refuse to give up the search was her knowledge of her man. How careful he was. His keen planning ability. Knowing that he was not reckless. As I took the journey with her I could relate to her fears, her hopes, her despair. Her growing friendship with two other women whose husbands were also missing on that mountain ~~ the ups and downs of the search. I could not put the book down.

This book was of initial interest to me because I live in Portland, OR and many of the events depicted happened on the mountain we see every day (at least when it isn't covered up by clouds): Mount Hood. I have had friends and relatives climb Mt. Hood and know it is doable if you are in good shape and have a good guide, but I also hear of the dangers. Those dangers came to be no more real than in December 2006 when three men were reported as lost on the mountain.This book is the recounting of the story from the eyes of one of the wives of the three men (and the only one whose body ever was found): Karen James. Her husband, Kelly James, was a climber with 25 years experience. Karen gives a brief, but sufficient, relaying of highlights of Kelly's life and of their marriage and life together, but she does not dawdle in getting to what the book is about: how God moved in the situation of the lost climbers. It is a heart wrenching book. It is a book of faith. It is an honest book; Karen shares her anger, her doubts, her fears. But in the end it is about God shaping one woman and using the worst experience of her life to do so. The recounting of the story is the familiar news story and a fascinating read. The events, the news reports and the once-in-a decade snow storm are things I remember well. But that is not really the point of the book. The point of the book is what God was doing in Karen James's life through this most tragic of events.It is a book that is part adventure story, part love story, but mostly an inspirational story about one woman's journey of faith through the valley of the shadow of her husband's death. I would highly recommend it.

This book not only tells the dramatic story of the Mt. Hood tragedy, but it also walks us through the healing process the author underwent her first year after losing her husband. While I found some of the writing unreal in certain places, overall the book is one full of life lessons and drama.